Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Lennar (NYSE:LEN) Stock Price

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) had its target price cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $170.00 to $152.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on LEN. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Lennar in a report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Lennar from $190.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on Lennar from $196.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays decreased their target price on Lennar from $135.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on Lennar from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Lennar presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.06.

Lennar Stock Up 1.8 %

NYSE:LEN opened at $123.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.67. Lennar has a twelve month low of $119.25 and a twelve month high of $193.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $138.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $163.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 4.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lennar (NYSE:LEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The construction company reported $4.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.15 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $9.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.06 billion. Lennar had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 11.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.82 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Lennar will post 12.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lennar Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 29th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. Lennar’s payout ratio is 13.95%.

Institutional Trading of Lennar

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Lennar during the 3rd quarter worth $115,229,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,271,319 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $446,110,000 after buying an additional 589,553 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,239,488 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $441,769,000 after buying an additional 515,378 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,250,626 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $308,696,000 after buying an additional 397,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Lennar by 258.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 494,848 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,774,000 after buying an additional 356,731 shares during the last quarter. 81.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Lennar

Lennar Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a homebuilder primarily under the Lennar brand in the United States. It operates through Homebuilding East, Homebuilding Central, Homebuilding Texas, Homebuilding West, Financial Services, Multifamily, and Lennar Other segments. The company’s homebuilding operations include the construction and sale of single-family attached and detached homes, as well as the purchase, development, and sale of residential land; and development, construction, and management of multifamily rental properties.